


Nobody Writes to the General

by nausicaa_of_phaeacia



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Birthday Party, Dancing, Drinking, F/M, Fluff, Post-Season/Series 01, Tropes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-01
Updated: 2014-11-01
Packaged: 2018-02-23 13:20:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2548970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nausicaa_of_phaeacia/pseuds/nausicaa_of_phaeacia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At his birthday party, Coulson is dancing with Natasha. Skye isn't too pleased.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Skyepilot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/gifts).



> I really had to prepare a presentation for uni, so I wrote _another_ fic. (Oh, hiatus.) ;)  
>  Hope you like it! As you can safely assume, I was stressed (... procastrinating), so this isn't actually high quality. (Neither is the previous fic.) :)  
> I needed something fluff-like.
> 
> For Skyepilot - because it's really a double addiction. :)  
> It's cheesy.

After a few hours, Skye found herself half-sulking, nursing a far too colourful drink (courtesy of Koenig) outside the crowd, sort of watching over Coulson who was - sleeves rolled up, top shirt button open - currently dancing something like Rumba with Romanov. Jemma had organized a surprise birthday party for him, having invited a few people from outside the team, figuring that since Coulson had been appointed Director, people like Natasha Romanov (and especially Natasha Romanov) had the right to know he was alive. 

Skye did see the point, of course, and it had really been a pleasure to chat with Dr Banner while he'd stayed (he'd left pretty early) - also, she had the impression most of the people invited (and there weren't _that_ many) were nice and intelligent guys, but with the Russian beauty, she just didn't know. Of course, she realized she was the best asset there ever had been, and a really goddamn pretty woman, also probably far more intelligent than Skye herself. And a great hacker, too. That was probably what upset Skye the most - apart from the fact that now, they had apparently switched to dancing Salsa, and Coulson seemed to enjoy it a lot. She was about to just leave them be and walk away when suddenly, Trip's voice asked from behind her, "And how is the view from over here?"

"Trip." He briefly touched her shoulder, smiling. "Well... it's cool. But, I mean, look at her dancing with Coulson. The way she's moving her hips. It's just... I don't know. I guess it's his choice. Also, his birthday." Looking very frustrated, she fiddled with the straw in her drink. The amusement in Trip's voice was obvious. "You really hate her, huh?"  
She looked at him as innocently as she could possibly manage.   
"Whom? You mean Romanov?"  
He grinned. "Yeah. Natasha. You've been monitoring her practically the whole night."  
"I have?..."  
"Skye."  
"Sorry. I don't even really know what I'm doing. She makes me feel uneasy."  
"She really likes you though. You know Natasha isn't exactly the emotionally open type but she's made a few nice comments about you."  
"Yeah?" Her tone was dripping with cynicism. "Like what?"  
Trip chuckled. "I remember her making a remark about you not looking too bad tonight. And when I was talking to her at the bar, she seemed very impressed by your research skills."  
"Ha. 'Research skills'. That's _so_ \- Wait, you were _talking_ to Romanov _at the bar_? Come on, Trip, she's really not your type."  
"Skye."  
"Sorry."  
She took a sip from her drink, and Trip watched the crowd dance. 

"Trip?"  
"Yeah."  
"I'm sorry. Scratch the last few sentences I said."  
He half-smiled. "Not a big deal, Skye."  
"No, I take that back. Scratch like ninety-nine percent of this conversation. I'm sorry. It just... pisses me off that Coulson is dancing with Natasha."  
He turned around to look at her, grinning. "It's fine, really. And I can imagine why it does."  
She made an attempt at looking innocent again but knew she was failing, so she smiled instead. "It's not _really_ like that."  
He flashed a comfortingly warm smile. "I know. He's the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. But anybody would be pissed of to see the person they like dance with someone who's obviously really good-looking and also a badass person."  
Skye nodded a little, but when Trip turned around to watch the dancing again, she realized he wasn't only talking about Coulson. He'd been watching Jemma dance with a very handsome-looking agent all the time. She put down her glass and stepped forward to put a hand on Trip's shoulder.  
"He's a kindergarten knight compared to you, Triplett. She'll have forgotten his name the moment she doesn't see his choreographed smile anymore."  
He chuckled at that and briefly patted her hand. "Thanks, Skye. Same boat for you and me I guess." A quick smile, then Skye walked away to get to Coulson before Natasha got a chance to make her way back to him from the bar.

He was standing at a table, emptying a tumbler of what looked like Scotch from the distance when she tapped his shoulder from behind. "Will you honour me with a birthday dance, Director?" His smile was very smug, but he looked genuinely pleased when he took a tiny bow and took her hand to assume a standard dance position. "Have you found me to be an acceptable dancer? Sufficient skill?"  
"Well, I haven't really seen you dance, but from the glimpse I caught, it looked good enough to me, yeah." She smiled but sensed she'd been made.   
"I wouldn't exactly call that catching a glimpse. You've been observing me during the whole party." She looked shocked. "From there," he gave a little nod into the direction where Trip now stood. 

"So you noticed." She was almost blushing. "I'm sorry. Well, Romanov and you did make a fantastic pair. I didn't know you danced."  
He suddenly looked her straight into the eye, smiling so warmly that Skye almost forgot herself. Dancing with Coulson, getting twirled around and caught again by him had made her a little light-headed. Or maybe it was the music. The general crowdedness of the rather small room. Or Koenig's creative cocktail-mixing. "Natasha and I are just friends with a history. But you haven't really seen me dance yet." She couldn't answer because Coulson was basically pushing her out of the crowd and into the next room - very elegantly, though. The last thing she saw before exiting the party was Trip raising a fist towards her in a mute cheer.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wasn't sure how to write the ending and decided to go with the first thing I could think of. :)

Never giving up dance position - making Skye laugh -, moving farther and farther away from the party, Coulson manoeuvered her into his office. Releasing her with a small twirl, he shot her a promising smile and walked over to the record player. Uncertain if this was really happening, but getting an idea of where this was going, the absurdity of the situation made Skye brave. The moment of silence it took Coulson to find the record he wanted to listen to while sipping at a half-full glass of Scotch gave her the opportunity to find her usual old self again. "So, Director," she chimed, "I know it's your birthday, but would I be very mistaken in thinking you were trying to seduce me with a special dance?"

A rather smooth jazz number started playing, and before she could really think about it, they were caught in a dancing position so close that Skye felt she was instantly able to follow and mirror his every move. She could feel his breath on her cheek and for some odd reason, it was only in that moment that she finally admitted to herself things were exactly the way Trip had described them. That she'd long fallen for Coulson and that her temporary jealousy of Natasha Romanov had simply gotten the better of her during the party.  
"I may be a little drunk, Skye - this is a birthday party after all-, but let me assure you -" - he pulled her even closer to make her lean backwards for a short dancing pose, then pulled her back up in a sudden movement - "I don't mean to be _trying_."

At that, Skye froze, looking very serious, and Coulson thought he'd ruined everything. She pulled away a little.  
"Coulson... Sir. Your charm is definitely working and everything, really, it is, but... I don't know." Coulson's first instinct was to give up and walk away, but she looked so genuinely sad that he went to stop the music. Only now - and not during the dancing, Skye noticed - did he walk over to the door to lock it. Taking a few steps towards her, he pulled up two chairs from the table and gestured for her to make herself comfortable.  
Skye sat down next to him, unsure of what to say. After a moment of silence, Coulson spoke, very calmly. "You don't owe me an explanation for anything."  
She sighed a little. "I don't - not for stopping the dance. But I do for being so childish as to monitor you during the whole evening." She shared his little sad smile. 

There was a surreality to the situation they were both very well aware of, and they found themselves to be trapped a little between how official things used to be (although, to be fair, things had never been entirely official between Skye and Coulson) and how they had, through dancing with each other, left all kinds of rational boundaries behind them, without being able to go back.

"It's just silly, I guess, and I'm actually mortified." He chuckled; she looked at him a little dramatically and gestured in circles in front of herself. "See? Mortified face." He smiled, and she saw something in his expression that made her want to risk explaining everything.   
"This is really stupid, Coulson, but I think I've really liked you from the beginning. I wasn't sure what it was about.... I felt appreciated and welcome, and we were colleagues. Not actually friends, you know, with you being my boss and me just being the hacker rookie with a tendency to be a little too honest. But then stuff happened – the GH, HYDRA, Ward, and I figured we were more than just colleagues, partners maybe. And I'm really fine with that, it's awesome ninety percent of the time."  
She looked at her hands, and he found himself trying to look at exactly the same spot. 

"What about that one percent?"  
"One percent of it sucks. No, I'm not being completely honest here, _Director_ , it's more like ten percent. Or twenty. You know what? Make it fifty. Because while it's awesome to know we're, you know, _in the dark together_ , it sucks because now that you're Director, I'm afraid it's not going to stay the same. That you're going to have secrets from me because keeping secrets 24/7 is going to be your job. Because even in a new S.H.I.E.L.D. that has no levels, I won't be only one step behind you but, like, ...a marathon." She was gesturing passionately; she guessed it was all the same now whether she told him all of it or not. "I know you're nothing like Fury, but the responsibility is pretty much the same. Everybody knows May is going to be your right hand and yeah, Hill probably your left, and Romanov is going to be your --- maybe you'll have _three hands_ , whatever."   
For a moment, he considered smiling because she still seemed to be jealous, but she cast him a look that had lethal qualities, and he wasn't sure he actually knew why. 

"It's really simple, Coulson. You used to be A.C. to me, and now you're the Director. I used to think we were kind of _close_ and now we're not anymore. Because that's not how things are _supposed_ to be. Things change and things get replaced. I get it, you know? I don't blame anyone. I'm still the rookie, GH or no GH, and Natasha Romanov is like the Goddess of Espionage. She's really cool. Also, we need every agent we can get, what with the HYDRA _coup d'état_ and everything. But until recently, I'd still hoped things were going to stay the same, you know? I've never been one to welcome big changes."

She stood up and walked over to the door. As she reached for the key to unlock it, she heard him stand up behind her.  
"Neither have I."  
She turned around.   
"May's been telling me I should make you Assistant Director. And you _know_ how persuasive she can be."  
Skye chuckled.  
"But I don't think this is really about S.H.I.E.L.D. - even though there are a lot of changes to be made." He cleared his throat. "Nobody has known me for a longer time than May does. But you know me better than anyone. And it's not just that. Not just the fact that you saved me. And not just the GH-325."  
He looked at her, and she could feel her heart beat in her throat.  
"There is something about you that makes me want to wake up in the morning. Something about how you smile at me after a mission that tells me I haven't gone wrong _everywhere_. I'd never have appointed myself Director if I'd been in Fury's place, but I have to live with it, even though I've done things I sometimes wish I hadn't lived to witness."  
He suddenly looked exhausted. "I guess I'm enough of a Director for the S.H.I.E.L.D. that's left," he grinned, but it looked more like a stage grimace. 

Skye stepped away from the door as resolutely as if it were a very dignified step away from the rim of an abyss.  
"It doesn't matter what you did or didn't do. There's no one better for the job than you. This isn't about crying over the remains of Fury's S.H.I.E.L.D. and going to confess a list of bad things to your local priest. This isn't about recreating S.H.I.E.L.D. before infiltration. It's about doing it right, _from root to top_. I don't need to tell you how corrupt this organization was, even without the undercover Nazi part. We had the right goals, but it was never more than an impromptu collection of assets, a bunch of rules and improvised mission work. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for improvisation, but S.H.I.E.L.D. needs someone who knows what is right - without having to find out what's wrong first, and at actual people's expenses."

"That's exactly what I did," Coulson muttered.  
"That's exactly what you would _never_ do anymore. I saw you with Akela, and with Petersen. You don't risk a person's life."  
He swallowed.  
"You injected me with the GH."  
Coulson looked as if he had been accused of his heaviest sin.  
"You made sure I had a chance to survive." She stepped closer. "You _saved_ me, and you know it." Her hand was on his arm now. "I told you on the first day: You value me. And we all value you. No matter what position you're in."  
He smiled sadly again, but she wasn't done yet. " _I_ value you." She took a deep breath. "A _lot_ ."  
They weren't going to be sure who took the deciding step first, but they suddenly ended up kissing. And smiling smiling _smiling_.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! :) Please tell me what you think! Comments tend to make my day. :)  
> I borrowed the title from a García Márquez novel.


End file.
